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Since 1997, I have worked on policymaking in one form or another, from policy design, implementation, and now enforcement. The areas I have worked on range from economic policy and poverty alleviation to environmental policy and utility regulation. At the California Public Utilities Commission, I led policy efforts to ensure that the State’s $3 billion dollar energy efficiency portfolios were cost effective and successful. In this capacity, I have advised State Legislative offices and Commissioners on our State’s clean energy initiatives, worked with a wide range of stakeholders, local and federal agencies, and led public participation meetings.
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Over the past five years, I have been an investigator in cases of utility companies committing fraud or violating State rules in their provision of water, telecommunications and energy services. Most recently, I helped discover $10 million in the fraudulent appropriation of low - income subsidies by a phone company. That company faced penalties and no longer operates in California. Â
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And while IÂ have over two decades of experience as a policymaker, I have also been a K-12 educator in neighboring Oakland and an environmental journalist in Bangladesh. My work is informed by my education at Yale University, where I obtained a master's in environmental management, focusing on indigenous ecological knowledge and climate policy.
Like many in Berkeley, I am here because of the sacrifices made by previous generations.
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My parents are immigrants from India who knew struggle early in life. My father became a refugee in partitioned India barely out of his toddler years. Having left everything behind to live across a newly constructed border in India, there were days he could not go to school because his one shirt was drying. My mother was the eighth child among ten children. She was almost denied an education because her local high school did not accept girls until the year she was ready to attend.
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That little boy with only one shirt went on to become the Executive Project Manager for all of New York City’s water treatment projects - the world’s cleanest metropolitan water system. And that little girl whose education nearly stopped at middle school? She went on to become an anesthesiologist in New York City, always among the doctors standing during rounds of layoffs.
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Despite their early challenges, my parents were able to achieve great things not only because they worked hard to fulfill their potential, but also because of visionary and thoughtful leadership by decision-makers in their community. Their local representatives were able to recognize the potential of their people, meet the challenges of their time, and provide equitable opportunities to those who pursued them.
I am your neighbor and a single mother in West Berkeley. My daughter attends elementary school in the Berkeley Unified School District. Like many Berkeleyans, I am here because I love this city.
Berkeley is full of so much potential. Our city also faces serious challenges that are specific to this moment in history. Housing in Berkeley is largely unaffordable for people in low- and moderate- income brackets, seniors in our community cannot meet rising costs and face homelessness, and our city faces increasing budget deficits. While homicides are down in our city, traffic fatalities are up. Berkeley is quickly losing large portions of our black population.
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And yet, we have everything we need, right here in our city, to address these challenges: we have a wealth of knowledge and resources, a collective commitment to equity and free speech, and systems that are capable of supporting us. I am running to work with you to help channel our community resources into meeting the challenges of our time, to provide equitable opportunities to those who pursue them, and to realize our great city’s exceptional potential.